The Only Cure
by Window Girl
Summary: A mom and her two young children discuss the episode "Suds" and what it has to do with the the curing of the deadliest disease.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Spongebob Squarepants. That is the creation of Stephen Hillenburg and the property of Nickelodeon. All views expressed in this story are mine and mine alone and do not necessarily represent the views of Mr. Hillenburg, Nickelodeon studios, or anyone else affiliated with the show.

A\N: If you have any questions or comments, you can review or you can private message me. To private message me, just go to my profile and click on "send message."

"Mom! Mom! It's on! It's on! Hurry!"

Mary Austin chuckled. Being a mother to two young children was always interesting. She had a daughter, Lilly, aged seven and a son, Cole, aged five. Cole was the one calling her from the living room. He and Lilly had a habit of becoming fascinated with t.v. shows and demanding that she sit down and watch those shows with them every time they came on. Mary had sat through _Barney, Dora the Explorer, Penguins of Madagascar_, and at least a dozen other shows over the past three years. Lilly and Cole's current obsession was _Spongebob Squarepants_. At first, Mary had thought it was an incredibly silly show (at least _Barney_ was educational). Overtime, though, she had come to love the yellow sponge and his neighbors almost as much as her kids did.

"Mom, hurry up!" Cole yelled.

"I'm coming, sweetie. Just let me set the timer on the oven, and I'll be right there." She came into the living room to find Cole sitting on the floor in front of the t.v. with a big grin on his face. Lilly was sitting in a chair, wearing a Spongebob t-shirt. Mary took her place on the sofa as the theme song ended and the opening credits came on screen. The name of this episode was "Suds."

In this episode, Spongebob had a cold. Only, when he sneezed, soap bubbles came out instead of mucus. Lilly and Cole thought this was hilarious! Mary had to agree, especially when Patrick got involved. He tried to solve the problem by plugging up all of Spongebob's pores with corks. This only increased the problem. The soap suds kept building up inside of Spongebob until he was a big round ball. Mary had a good time watching Patrick and Sandy fight over the ball, with Sandy trying to roll Spongebob to the doctor's and Patrick trying to roll Spongebob away from Sandy. In the end, Spongebob did go to the doctor, and the doctor scrubbed the suds out of him.

"That was funny!" Lilly giggled, as the show came to an end.

"Yeah," Cole guffawed. "Patrick is so dumb!"

"That's not fair, Cole," Lilly scolded. "Patrick was only trying to help."

"Yeah, but he just made things worse," replied Cole.

"That's right," said Mary. "Sometimes our best friends mean well when they give us advice or try to help us, but they only wind up hurting us."

"Only a _real_ doctor can cure a disease," declared Cole.

"Yes," Mary agreed, "you should always go see a real doctor when you're sick."

"Boy," said Cole, "I'd hate to have the suds. Wouldn't it be awful to be sneezing bubbles all the time?"

"It sure would," said Mary. "But, you know, there is a disease that everyone in the world has, and it's way worse than the Suds."

"No way!" Lilly exclaimed.

"What is it?" Cole asked, his brown eyes growing big in his small face.

"The disease is called sin. Do you know what that is?"

"Oh, Mom," Lilly rolled her eyes. "Sin is just when you do stuff you're not supposed to do. It's not a disease."

"Well, it's not a disease in the same sense that a cold is. But a lot of its effects are the same."

"What do you mean?" asked Lilly.

"Well, sin makes you miserable for one thing. For example, when you tell a lie you often feel miserable for days afterwards."

"That's right," said Cole, "I told a lie to my teacher once and, boy, did I feel bad until I told the truth! It was like having a really bad stomach ache that wouldn't go away."

"I guess sin really does make you feel bad," Lilly mused.

"And sin does more than make you feel bad," said Mary. "Sin can kill you inside."

"What?" Lilly and Cole exclaimed in unison.

"Well," said Mary slowly, "it's kind of hard to explain. Sometimes, when people commit the same sin over and over again, it makes them feel dead inside. It makes them feel like life is not worth living. And sin separates us from God, who is the source of all life. You see, our souls live on after our bodies die. They can either live with God in Heaven or in a terrible place called Hell. The Bible teaches that because we've all sinned, we all deserve to go to Hell. There, we will live forever separated from God and from each other, in a place of permanent pain, darkness, and loneliness. "

Lilly's eyes filled with tears. "I didn't know that sin was so bad," she said softly.

"Sin is a serious problem," replied Mary, hugging her daughter. "And sometimes our friends here on Earth try to help us with it, like Patrick tried to help Spongebob with the suds. They'll give us advice on how to change our lives. They'll give us books or enroll us in programs that tell us how to be better people. These things can help a little, but they can't get rid of sin or save us from Hell. Only Jesus can. He's the doctor that can heal our disease. He's taken the punishment for our sins already by dying on the cross. And when He rose from the dead, sin was defeated forever. All we have to do is accept that sacrifice, and we can be right with God."

"I want to accept Jesus's sacrifice," said Lilly.

"Me too!" agreed Cole.

"All right," said Mary, "Come here and I'll help you pray."

She gathered her children in her arms. Lilly laid her head in her mother's lap, and Cole laid his head on his mother's shoulder. Mary bowed her head and closed her eyes, and the three of them began to pray. . .

If you want to be cured of sin, pray to Jesus. _Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I know that sin is bad for me, that's it's making me sick and it's killing me. I accept that only you can help me. Please forgive me for all the things I've done wrong and heal me from their consequences. Then send your Holy Spirit to help me do what is right. Thank you for loving me so much. Amen_


End file.
